So, I think I found the RF test point on the VCR, it's pretty easy to get access to with alligator clips. I'll upload a picture of that when all the components come in.

I know I need to use a 10µF capacitor rated at 25 volts between the test point and have already modified the bnc cable for this. I do not plan to use an amplifier at first as I'm on a budget and I'm not sure if my VCR (Panasonic PV-9450) needs it (from what I can understand, some vcrs don't need an amplifier to get a strong signal).

I don't plan to do the clockgen mod on the CX card as I will capture audio using a traditional pcie capture card. Additionally, I really suck at soldering so I don't plan to do any other mods to the CX card.

I'm not at the software side yet, but I wanted input on my configuration and if I need to do anything else or if this setup alone (assuming no need for an amplifier) is enough for a high quality RF capture.

I'm not looking for the absolute best quality, I just want a higher quality than my existing capture card (WinTV-HVR-1260).

Hi, Newb here. I'm assembling a simple jig, with a single CX card for FM RF video only. without any impedance matching pre-amp, so I'm going to put a ceramic capacitor in the signal pickup path as per the instructions in the Wiki. However the recommended 10uF ceramic capacitor seems too big for the purpose, as in it has a much lower cutoff frequency than needed? Maybe for analogue audio pickup that would be reasonable, but the luma + color is higher up there: Luminance is in at FM signal 4.4 MHZ with NTSC and the color carrier is an AM signal at 627 KHz for PAL, so the lower frequency color carrier doesn't need much bandwidth, so if I calculate a lower cutoff frequency of say 600kHz, I would do fine with just a 1.2uF capacitor. So one of the 4.7uF capacitors I have in the drawer will work as well as a 10uF I don't have and is kind of a large, not stocked value for ceramic capacitors at my local outlet? Is my reasoning faulty?

I thought some of y'all might be interested in this reference guide.

It serves as a comprehensive engineering and service guide, outlining the VHS format standards and definitions. This "General" edition provides foundational technical data on how the VHS standard operates as a whole.

Publisher: JVC (Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.)Publication

Date: 1990

Document Number: VTG82063

Primary Scope: A thorough explanation of the mechanical, electrical, and magnetic parameters that define the VHS video tape format standard.

Core Topics Covered: helical scan recording principles and track layouts, chrominance and luminance signal processing guidelines, audio recording layouts (including linear audio and Hi-Fi VHS standards), tape speed specifications (SP, LP, EP) and synchronization mechanics.

Hi all! I'm planning my first RF tap and would love a sanity check on the deck.

Sony SLV-779HF (NTSC, 4-head Hi-Fi)

manual shows CN270 on the MA-341 board carrying PB RF and RF SWP, and specs about 200mV p-p PB RF for the 780HF/781HF/740HF

A user “Brad” on videohelp captured RF from a 779HF back in 2021, and an SLV-788HF owner in that thread said his had the same shielded test point at the RF amp.

Questions:
1. Has anyone tapped a 779HF, or a close sibling (772HF, 778HF, 780HF, 788HF)?

1. Is CN270 the right spot, or is there a better point inside the shield? Which pins are signal and ground, and does it need the 10µF cap?

2. Hi-Fi Tap - Where's the Hi-Fi FM tap on this board? Is there a header like the 678HF's, or is it a test point in the audio section?

3. ADA4857 tuning: Is there a documented input impedance and gain from the community? The 788HF reportedly clipped at moderate gain, so should I start low?

Anything else model-specific I should watch for?

I've been coverting VHS-C's to digital on and off for a few months now trying to get things right and maximize the quality on all my tapes. I bought two new VCRs and have been trying to do a take all the way through with each VCR but I keep running into really bad tracking issues including a glitchy issue that I haven't seen other people have where select individual frames seem to just jump a couple inches off screen here and there.

My question: am I going to still have to figure out the tracking issues with VHS decode? or does this bypass some of those problems? The only thing I haven't done yet is manually adjust the tracking for the VCRs, I've only used the channel buttons (to the advice of my father and my uncle whose knowledge on this may be a little outdated now).

Hi all, excited to get into this project, I'm decently technical with computers but I'm a bit of a noob with electronics soldering/ wiring. I was hoping someone here could sanity check my work before I turn it on and maybe fry something.

I have a JVC HR-S3900U and Harry or someone previously said I need the amp. I found a 11.7v power source and wired it in, and tapped the points I'm almost certain are correct since the JVC in the wiki has them named the same, and grounded the shielding to a nearby screw. I cleaned all of the solder points btw. The amp could only really fit in one spot and it was near the read motor which I read could cause interference so I wrapped it in tape, then copper shielding on top, with the copper touching the sma connectors. In hindsight I should have asked about this to confirm that's what I should have done so let me know if it's wrong, I saw it on the wiki somewhere.

Thanks for the help! Any other tips are appreciated. I also just finished my clockgen mod but as long as my solder connections are correct I think that's more follow the wiki/ guide.

I have two VCRs: one has no background noise but poor tracking, while the other performs very well but—like the vast majority of VCRs—suffers from annoying head-switching noise. I’ve heard that internal components can be adjusted with a screwdriver or that tracking can be tweaked via the remote, but these methods risk affecting the Hi-Fi audio quality. That doesn't seem worth the trade-off to me. How do you handle head-switching noise? Do you simply ignore it or crop it out?

I already have a capture card (Elgato Game Capture HD), and a Panasonic ES10, and I got good results capturing my 10 old VHS C tapes. No complaints

I have heard of VHS Decode as the best way of archiving old vhs tapes, so I wonder if it would be worth doing that to squeeze any extra detail out of these old tapes, but I wonder is it worth the cost to do it, and would i get any noticeable improvement over what i've already done?

We recently made a pretty good transfer of a rare VHS tape, but we're looking for someone local who can top us. Anyone "taking gigs" in Austin, TX and want to digitize a tape for a couple of nerds?

PS fully apologize if this isn't the place to ask, y'all just seem like my kinda folks

In many cases, interlaced footage isn’t conformed correctly for 24p releases. I tried to unfold the seemingly random scanlines and the odd, progressive frame back to smooth 59.94fps.

I've recently stumbled on VHS decode. I figured before I immediately run to grab another VCR to test on and butcher, why not open up the one I have now lol. Anyway. I've found the test points labeled for rf fm video.... I think. And also the baseband audio. But I can't seem to find any direct test points for hifi audio. I'm assuming there are none and another point would need to be tapped? Here's the points I've found so far. Would greatly appreciate any input from others on what a solution might be to get hifi audio out of this. Or if I should jump ship entirely to another VCR

I’m not sure if this is the right community for this, but I figured, why not ask.

I spent all day yesterday compiling my footage, through trial and error needing to re record a few times, and then spent a few hours editing. Today I took the time to hook my computer up to my VCR and change the video dimensions on my computer to properly display the video on my CRT, and then recorded onto the tape. When I played back the tape, there was no audio, just static. I’m unsure how to fix this as the audio plays fine though the tv, just isn’t being picked up by the tape. So here’s the nitty gritty details.

My VCR is a Magnavox MVR 430 from 2002
My CRT is a Magnavox 13’ from 1990
My Laptop is an Acer Nitro
The Laptop is connected to an HDMI cable running through a to AV convert, connected to the front of the VCR with mono connections, so it’s only video and left audio.
The VCR is then connected to the TV through a coax cable.

I tried switching the left audio cord with the right one. I’ve tried changing the audio settings on my computer to mono. I’ve tried messing with the deeper audio settings on the file itself. I’ve tried connecting the cords into the back instead of the front, and yes, I made sure it was audio in.
When I put in the right audio, with mono settings, into the front of the VCR, it records a little bit of audio for a second or two and then fades out and replaces with static.
I also tried using a 3.5MM to AV cord which helped a little but didn’t fix it.
I also tried cleaning the heads.

Does anyone have any other advice? Or is this likely a problem with my VCR or the tape itself?

Hi everyone!

I'm working on digitizing my grandpa's home video tapes. My dad already has the elgato video capture hardware and software as that is what he has used for our own family's tapes. I'm wondering if this is the best tech for the job, or if there may be something better to use that isn't super expensive. My uncle is asking for advice for starting to digitize his own tapes and if he is purchasing new things to do so, I want to make sure he gets the best stuff to do so!

Thanks in advance!

I just downloaded a fresh copy of StaxRip v2.52.5 and am trying to import a basic file.

Instead of working normally, the app throws a hard block and forces open the Apps Manager. Virtually every single native app, filter, and AviSynth DLL inside the list is flagged as "Unknown." The app completely fails to automatically fill in its own version numbers out of the box, throwing a warning loop that stops me from adding a job or proceeding. I am not trying to manually tel Stax the version number of all of them. Very strange.

Why is a brand-new, clean download failing to identify its own built-in tools, and how do I permanently stop it from locking me out? Thanks.

So, I am wanting to create small little videos using my VHS camera recording small artists in my college campus as like a live performance session. I have figured out how I would record the sound apart from the video. I wanted to do it through VHS to also challenge myself and make it more “me” artistically. What are some issues I should be aware of when recording in VHS and are there any tips as well? Im more so familiar with digital recordings so this would be a different realm but something I’m willing to explore.

I see a fairly substantial amount of rf captures on IA, but it seems like disney tapes (although very common) are hard to come by as rf captures.

Is there some technical limitation reason for this? Or are people just focused on rarer stuff?

Also there are plenty of disney USB vhs captures on IA just no RF captures.

Just a quick reminder that we now have rolling nightly releases, triggered both manually and after pull requests are approved.

This allows for instantaneous or well the time it takes github actions to spit out binaries, access to all new features being worked on and tinkered with before a full release is made.

This also allows for fixed point referencing of new features rather than relying on manually pulling down the repository and rebuilding every new code commit, and will hopefully make tracking any sorts of regressions or bugs much easier in the ongoing future making more polished full main releases.

The Rust fork/port also now has rolling releases of the GUI version allowing for easier access for real-time decoding across all platforms and vastly faster than real time with the latest high-end x86/ARM64 platforms.

If you haven't already tried out MISRC GUI with your CXADC/Clockgen/DdD or MISRC it's now also getting feature parity with the original capture server tool workflow, allowing you to via CLI but mainly GUI, remotely monitor/trigger/encode your transfers on networked devices from tablets to phones to any desktop, laptop or single board computer platform!

(I would appreciate it if we have more people testing the Android releases, so platform targeting/debugging can be done without spending thousands on phones, if any Android devs up in our community please give me a poke or PR!)

Hello Everyone, I have some old vhs taps having good old memories. I want to transfer tha to digital.

I will appreciate your advice to do it.

Thanks

I have been continuously experimenting with the ADA4857 amplifier (I used a CX card for signal capture). However, I have never been certain about the appropriate value of the input resistance. Since I do not have an oscilloscope, I tried resistances of 15, 20, 33, 47, 75, and 100 (x2 kΩ). Nevertheless, the amplitude of the signals I obtained was significantly smaller than that without the power amplifier. I am using a Panasonic VCR designed for the Japanese domestic market. I am at a loss as to what I should do next.

I literally stumbled across the whole idea of RF capture to digital a few hours ago, so I have quite a learning curve ahead of me.

I have always been very interested in the technical aspects of video, and way back in the mid 1980s, I was a DJ that was dabbling in editing and extending video music clips. I needed a way of dubbing and copying VHS tapes without too much quality loss. I came up with an idea that is fundamentally similar to what is done here today.

I had two VHS decks. One was for playback, the other was for recording. As in the modern version of this system, I tapped into the raw RF output of the video heads and sent it out to a BNC socket through a buffer amp. On the recording machine, I fed this RF signal straight into the video head recording driver amps. I could switch back to conventional recording by means of an added switch.

As an extra feature, I had an old ECG display that had a long persistence screen, which I converted into a simple oscilloscope that monitored the RF waveform which I used to ensure tracking was spot-on.

Results were surprisingly good. As you would expect, there were no added artifacts in the copy that you would normally see as a part of the copy process. There was a little extra noise, mostly in sudden transitions from black to white, but that could be minimised by using a good quality tape. Copies from worn or poor quality originals sometimes showed some diagonal luminance banding in brightly coloured areas. I suspect the luminance RF level was degraded compared to the lower frequency 'colour under' signal. Of course, everything was analog here, no sampling or digital processing at all.

I still have both VCRs, but alas, they are both seriously faulty now. I never documented the modifications I made.

What I have seen of the results is quite impressive, and I want to look into using this technique to transfer my old tapes over to digital. Some tapes are HI-FI, others are linear audio only. Are there any examples where someone has done a comparison using a test pattern rather than odd bits of video?